HeadHunter
by WolfRavN
Summary: Julie Claymore lands face-first into the world of Remnant, and is stuck there. Faced with the prospect of having to make a new life, after a long career of being a mutant hitman on her own dimension and world, Julie decides to make the best of it. Besides, Ozpin would love to learn what an extra-dimensional monster-hunter that's also, kind of, a monster has to teach them.
1. Chapter 1

(If you're reading this, it means I actually posted it, or was bored, probably both. Julie Claymore appears in the Twisted Fates novel series as one of the main characters, it's available on Amazon...)

**Chap 1**

Julie Claymore had spent her day sparring while the guys had been fixing their equipment from their last engagement. Now, since Andy had mentioned ordering pizza, she headed inside to go change and get something to drink. The whirling vortex opened at her feet, and she didn't have enough time to react before she simply fell in. She landed on the other side face-first, thanks to the awkward angle she fell at.

It was a table, and there were people around. One of Julie's least graceful entrances of all-time had been in public and in front of lots of people, and she smelled ketchup in her long, red hair. She pushed herself off the table and found a napkin, ignoring the stares and quiet mutterings of those around her. They seemed a lot younger, but most of them didn't seem to be very threatening.

"A-are you okay?" a young blond with strange bracelets asked her.

Julie frowned a bit. "I've been through worse. Sorry about your lunch."

"What was that?" a shorter girl with black and red hair asked her.

Julie rolled her eyes impatiently. "The portal? Probably a prank. I'm not from around here, it could be a bit before my friends figure out what happened."

"Really? Where _are_ you from? We don't have that kind of thing, anywhere on Remnant."

The third girl to approach Julie was shaking her head. "Not that *you* know of, but the Schnee Dust Company is always working on any possible applications for Dust."

Julie regarded the heiress quietly for a moment, but said nothing. She instead focused on the other pair, who didn't seem quite so hostile. She completely ignored the girl with black hair that was looking at her like she knew that Julie wasn't something they knew how to deal with.

"I'm not really sure how to explain it. Either it's just a different dimension, because that's what the portal was, or it's a whole other planet, because you didn't say this was Earth. It's not, is it?"

The blond made a face. "Nope. Never heard of it. Anyway, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Yang, and this is my sister Ruby!"

Julie smiled as that pair of girls decided to be friendly. "I'm Julie Claymore, but some people call me Blades."

"Why?" Ruby asked. "Seems kind of weird."

"Because. It's a custom in my family." She turned to the girl with white hair and finally acknowledged the irritable glare she was getting. "Schnee, was it?"

"Yes. Weiss Schnee. How'd you guess?"

Julie shrugged. "It pays to pay attention. Who's your friend?" she asked the sisters.

Ruby glanced at Yang before Julie pointed, and they both noticed Blake's sudden reaction. Her confusion was pretty obvious, for about an eighth of a second. "That's Blake. We're a team."

Julie took a step closer to where Blake still sat. "Nice to meet you, Blake."

"You too," Blake said simply. Then she blurted out the question she'd been asking herself for a while. "What *are* you? You're not a Faunus."

"What's a Faunus?"

She shook her head. "Nevermind."

"So what's your team do? What's all this stuff? Doesn't look like a school, smells like gunpowder and oil everywhere."

Ruby took over answering questions enthusiastically, and even brushed Julie's arm. "This is Beacon! We're training here to become Hunters."

"What do you hunt?"

"The creatures of Grimm! Monsters, and criminals sometimes."

"Monsters?" Julie tried to keep her tone skeptical, but judging by the slight twitch in Blake's black bow, it hadn't worked as well as she'd hoped. Maybe Blake didn't talk much?

"Yeah. There's monsters here. Big monsters. You don't have monsters where you're from?"

Yang laughed. "That's impossible. There's some kind of monster *everywhere*. Just look at Weiss."

"Hey!"

Julie shook her head. "I get what you're saying. So here, the monsters are straight-forward, and you have a normal way of defending against them and this is all cool."

"Yeah," Yang blurted. "So you have monsters where you're from?"

Julie frowned. "It depends on your definition. We don't *usually* have big scary things that come after people, but we do have..." She broke off, then shrugged. "There's some scary stuff and people out there. Most of the monsters where I'm from are really people."

"Is that why-?" Blake began.

Julie stopped her with a quick warning glance. "I have occasionally been accused of being a monster. But I'm more like you, here. I just try and keep people from getting hurt, and make a little money."

"So you're a Huntress for hire, basically?" Weiss asked.

"I prefer the term mercenary or hitman." She turned back to Blake, now smiling. "That *thing* that's bothering you with me, cat-girl, is I'm not a normal human either. I'll be around for a while, so you don't get to see why they call be Blades." She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and tapped at a couple of the buttons in the menus, trying to get a signal. "Hopefully, we won't have a misunderstanding. Until then, I'm going to try and go home. I'm probably about to start losing money."

"Greedy," Weiss muttered under her breath.

Julie pocketed the useless phone and smiled. "Let's not start name-calling. I can be a bit sensitive, wouldn't want to have you break a nail."

Weiss began glaring. "As if you could take me. You're not even much older, I can tell!"

Julie kept smiling. "Thanks, I mostly just work out a lot. But no, you don't have that kind of experience. I've been hunted for a long time, you're not much older than I was when that started."

"Experience?" Weiss was fuming. "What would you know?"

"I'm trying to save you some embarrassment, go talk to Blake. She seems to get what I'm saying." She smiled at Blake, then winked. "We get each other, maybe I understand Faunus."

Blake began glaring.

"Oh, that's a secret? What about the bunny?"

"She doesn't care."

Julie nodded. "I've fallen face-first into a monster-hunter anime. This is a bad joke. I'll see you ladies around, good luck with school."

She left the building, but didn't manage to leave Beacon's large, confusing grounds before team RWBY had stopped her at the gate. She pocketed her phone again, since it couldn't connect to the local networks for some reason. She had spent the entire time at Beacon completely unarmed, and after her short moment of being lost, she realized how weird that was.

"That was really rude of you," Weiss said. She was pouting a little.

Julie raised an eyebrow but maintained her bored expression. A large part of her life had been spent acting a part, pretending she was something or someone she wasn't. "I'm not trying to be, I'm just blunt. I'm sorry, but get over it."

"Get over it?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe you have experience, maybe you're something special. But so am I. So are we."

"You going to gang up on a stranger now?"

"You said it yourself, didn't you? You're some kind of monster, right?"

Julie glared for a moment, then calmed down. "People think I am. There's a difference. I do things based on if it's for money or morals. Very simple stuff. I'm extremely efficient in disposing hostiles, which is why I still occasionally get called names."

"Tell me, Julie," Blake began. "If you hunt monsters, where's your weapon?"

Julie smiled. "I'm my own weapon."

"So you don't use a weapon?"

She shrugged, but her grin had gone smug. She couldn't help it. "No, I didn't mean it that way. I meant it a different way. Let's not do this, alright? I'm not a Grimm, I'm not a criminal. I'm basically on your side."

Weiss snorted. "Like we haven't heard that before."

Julie frowned. "Look, kids, I didn't mean to get sent here. I'm pretty sure I know how it happened, but that means I'm stuck here. Nobody wins if this gets ugly, but everybody loses. Get it?"

"No."

"Right. If you pick a fight with me, it could get ugly. Since there's four of you, and you're actually armed, I'm pretty sure I'd have to get serious. Then it'd go bad for all of us."

"That sounds like a threat."

She shook her head. "I'm really out of practice spelling things out without them sounding harsh. Right. We fight, I show you why the call me Blades and I get my ass hunted the whole time I'm out here, even though I've done _nothing_ wrong, and I'll probably hurt somebody on accident just keeping you from fuckin' up my workout clothes."

"I can do more than that, lady," Weiss muttered.

Julie focused on her, ignoring the rest of the team. They didn't seem like they were nearly so upset about things, but were there to back up their friend. "I'm sure you can, but let's not."

Yang finally stepped forward, arms out and waving. "You sure talk a big talk, but I think Weiss' problem is that you're not backing it up." She glanced at her friend for a moment, then made a face. "Yeah, that's probably it. Right, so I think what Weiss is saying is she'd like to spar with you."

"Spar?"

"Something tells me you know what I'm talking about. Weiss'll promise not to hurt you much, and you can show her the same courtesy."

"I can do that," Weiss managed. For some reason, she really didn't seem to like Julie even being there.

"Maybe. Pretty sure they don't like this kind of thing going down right at the front gates, and I got time to kill." Julie shrugged. "Let's do this. Where to?"

The other young ladies led Julie to a more isolated garden behind the school, and their little scene hadn't drawn much attention. They were alone, thankfully. Yang also kept herself deftly between Weiss and Julie, though Julie kept a respectful distance anyway. She wasn't in the mood for making new enemies, and something told her these four were probably dangerous enough.

"Right. We'll probably need to set down some ground rules, because I'm not sure how you spar where you're from," Yang said seriously.

"Yeah! Like, what kinds of stuff do you do for training?" Ruby asked.

Julie shrugged. "Last week, I jumped out of a..." She frowned. "It's basically a spaceship. My friends and I keep coming up with scenarios, so we were testing the pilot to see if he could catch somebody that fell out."

"In space?"

"Oh _hell_ no! Me and spacesuits don't get along."

Ruby frowned. "But it's a spaceship, isn't it?"

"Not much I feel like seeing out there, just stuff. We use it for moving our equipment. Anyway, so yeah. I was a soccer ball for a minute, I guess. Then, you know, the usual. Regular sparring, some weights, a couple miles of running, stuff like that."

"But you said your monsters are usually people, and sometimes they think you're a monster."

Julie took a deep breath. "Because I'm a hybrid random and Nightwing."

"Nightwing? Is that like a Beowolf?"

She frowned. "Is that like a werewolf?"

"Sure."

She nodded, then shook her head. "It's a specific kind of were-_creature_, except I don't know what kind of BS your world says about that. I have control of my shapeshift, and it looks a little scary. Plus, it's armored, and I can control the armor. That's why they call me what they call me, and why I'm a little skeptical about using that to my advantage here."

Ruby's jaw had dropped and Yang looked skeptical, but Weiss didn't.

"That's not true and we both know it!"

Julie glanced around for possible spectators, then managed a grin. "Promise to keep it between us? I forgot what I did with my last pair of swords before I landed, so I've been meaning to make another pair."

"What?"

"You can trust our discretion," Blake assured her. Then she leveled a bit of a look on Weiss, though the heiress couldn't see it from behind her back. The tone, however, made it obvious. "We won't let out any of what you are, beyond being from some other planet. Pretty sure they're already spinning this out of control how an alien landed in Yang's lunch."

Julie nodded. "Fair enough." She stretched and managed a yawn as she managed her shapeshift, which pushed a pair of large, bat-like wings out from between her shoulder blades and covered her skin in steel. Her short nails became long, bladed claws. She folded her wings and tried to smile at the shocked expressions of the four young Huntresses in training that stood before her.

"I see why you'd like to keep that to yourself," Blake managed after a moment.

"Well, damn." Yang shook her head. "Bad ass."

Ruby's jaw hung for a long time as she stared, first at Julie's wings, then the claws. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Solid steel. Bends when I want it to, stays solid when I don't mean for it to." Julie shrugged. "Had it since I was about your age, or so. I'm mostly bullet-proof."

"Mostly?"

"Big guns probably work."

Ruby nodded, then grabbed one of Julie's claws without thinking. "Does it hurt?"

"No."

"Can you feel through it?"

"Of course, just not as well."

"Are we going to get this freakshow on the road or what?" Weiss demanded irritably.

Julie frowned as Ruby let go of her claw and finally acknowledged her instead. "Excuse me?"

"Freakshow. Namely yourself."

"That's what I thought you were saying." She shook her head, then slid some of the armor along her arms into a pair of large blades. It didn't take her long to have a pair of over-sized claymores in her hands, though their hilts were mostly just more steel, instead of the smooth wood that normally belonged there. "That's racist, where I come from."

Blake snorted softly, but said nothing.

"I don't care."

"Obviously. Well, alright. Let's do this, you wanted to fight me, here's your chance. Try and give me a good workout, honey, 'cause I get bored easy."

Weiss took off without warning, causing Yang and Ruby to jump out of the way as fast as they could. The speed with which Myrtenaster approached Julie's midsection was impressive, and Julie caught the quick flick beforehand. She waited until the last moment before dodging to the side, when she swatted the rapier away with the flat of one of her blades. They had dull edges, for now. Weiss came again, and Julie saw a glimpse of her form of magic, or whatever they called it here. She was gliding, and in a fairly standard fencing stance.

Julie grinned smugly as she stepped into the latest lunge and swatted the girl's rapier away with one of her claymores, then reversed her blades so that the pommels were aimed forward. She tagged Weiss in the collarbone with her left hilt, then planted the right in the soft green grass.

"That's not going to work."

Weiss jumped backward as the impact registered. "This all started because you were mean, but you're really a horrible woman."

Julie frowned. "I'm not the one being racist and calling others names." She shrugged. "Besides, I'm not shredding you."

"You're not very scary."

"We're not enemies. That's what side of my scale you're at, neutral."

"If we weren't?"

"I might take this serious."

Weiss screamed briefly before charging again, but she changed tactics from the previous lunges. Instead, she drew several glyphs around Julie and bounced around them, slashing and swinging her rapier at her as quick as she could. Julie couldn't block each of the attacks, given the need to anticipate, but it wasn't really a big deal. Her steel held strong, and Weiss' Myrtenaster wasn't exactly going to penetrate all that easily.

"Which means?"

Julie shrugged. "I'm lousy at taking a mark alive."

"So you fail?"

She shook her head. "No. I cut their heads off. Really beautiful technique. Hopefully I'm not here long enough for that, but a girl's gotta eat."

Weiss frowned for a moment. "You haven't attacked once."

"Studying your style, it's a little different from what I've learned."

"So you can fence?"

"Knowledge is power, but the application is everything."

"What does that even mean?"

Julie smiled. "It doesn't matter what you know, only how you use it."

"Whatever." Weiss spun her rapier's chamber around to blue, then stuck it into the ground. Everything froze at her feet, and the shards of ice came for Julie fast and hard, but she simply spread her wings and lifted off until the ice stopped. She landed on the end of the ice formation and sat down comfortably.

"Can you do fire?"

"What?"

"Is that your thing? You freeze? Or do you burn things? This isn't much of a challenge."

It took a moment for Weiss' confusion to subside enough for her to make sense of that. "I don't understand. How are you not at least frozen by now?"

Julie chuckled. "I saw you fiddle with your weapon, so it's not a direct manipulative kind of magic or whatever. It has something to do with your weapon, which is the weird part. I train with somebody who has more control over freezing than that, so it's not the same kind of ability, am I right?"

"Right. I use Dust."

She frowned in thought for a moment. "Sounds like something they'd sell on the street where I'm from. Hell, where I've been too."

"What?"

"It sounds like drugs, kid."

"It's not. We use it for a lot of things."

Julie shrugged. "So, I think we're done here."

"Are we?"

"You calm down, I'll try not to piss you off. Because apparently I've been doing a bad job."

"So you can't really attack?"

"Weiss, she hit you like it was nothing," Blake muttered.

Weiss shot the brunet an angry look. "I didn't ask you."

Julie used that opportunity to close in, though she let her remaining claymore fall in the process. She put both of her claws up to the back of Weiss' neck and head, but was smiling. "Checkmate."

"What?" Weiss turned then, startled, and nearly fainted when she came face-to-face with Julie's bladed claws. "Oh no!"

"Somebody owes me a pizza." Julie stepped away calmly as Weiss did her best not to embarrass herself in surprise. She retrieved her claymores, then brushed some fresh steel into the edges, sharpening them before she returned to her human form. "I'm bored."

Team RWBY stood in quiet shock for long enough that Julie had wandered away aimlessly before they began talking things out. "You almost died, Weiss," Yang said quietly. "She could've...what'd she call it? Shredded you."

"She's a _living_ weapon!" Ruby whispered excitedly.

"You were really rude. I think you've already paid her back for her rudeness, Weiss," Blake added.

Weiss stood frozen for another minute before everything began to make sense. "So she wasn't bragging."

"Probably not," Blake agreed. "But your mouth almost got you in trouble, again."

"Again?"

Blake rolled her eyes. "I think we should probably try and keep her out of trouble."

"_How?_ She's a monst-"

Blake slapped Weiss' shoulder, glaring. "She's a _person._ Like she said, they're usually people where she's from. I'm sure she was just illustrating a point."

It didn't take long for the girls to find Julie, now that rumors of a wandering alien were spreading. They just followed the speculative mumbling and vague muttering until they found Julie, waiting at the front gates of Beacon. The gates were closed, since it wasn't the weekend or during hours that people were allowed to visit. There were no guards to ask nicely, and the fence and gate were pretty tall, and strong. Julie was pacing back and forth impatiently in front of it when RWBY got there.

"Sorry, Julie, but those don't open for a couple more hours," Blake said, once they'd gotten closer.

Julie shook her head, frowning irritably. "Is it too early or too late?"

"They'll probably be open tomorrow, unless someone gets everyone in trouble again."

"So you can't fly?" Ruby asked quietly.

Julie raised an eyebrow, grinning. "I can, but I'd like to keep my mutations under wraps as long as possible. If I'm going to spend some time here, I'd like it to not be awful."

"But it's so..."

"I understand," Blake interrupted. "I'd appreciate if you don't mention _my_ differences either."

"Sorry, I was kind of a loudmouth for a minute." Julie shrugged. "I do that."

"Right, so...you're stuck here, at least until dark."

"Probably after," Yang added. "They have cameras."

Blake nodded thoughtfully. "I forgot. They might not say anything, but they'll know."

"They?" a man asked.

Everyone turned to face the gray-haired man with a cane. He took a sip of his coffee, quietly grinning at the shocked reactions of his students, and Julie.

"Our new friend here was thinking of taking a look around Vale," Yang explained, grinning.

"There aren't any scheduled transfer students, and we generally don't wind up with anyone entering Beacon _as_ a student quite so much later than the other first-years."

Julie frowned. "I'm not a student, or transfer, or anything. I'm not local, I didn't mean to disrupt anything, I just wound up here."

"So you're the 'alien' I take it?" Ozpin's raised eyebrow bothered Julie a little.

"Not really an alien, I'm still human."

He nodded thoughtfully. "You almost blend in here, though."

She shrugged. "Seems like a pretty neat setup."

"My name's Ozpin. I'm the headmaster."

"That explains why you bother me so much." She smiled. "I always got in trouble with the principle. I'm Julie Claymore."

She shook his hand firmly and he chuckled. "Named after a weapon?"

"It's a long, complicated story."

"So you didn't choose it?"

"No."

"But you carry a pair of them."

She shrugged. "They're kind of my trademark. Anyway, I'm not sure how long I'll be here."

"Where are you from?"

"Earth, on some different dimension."

He frowned thoughtfully. "Strange. What do you do, that you'd carry swords around, though?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I'm a bit similar to your world's hunters, except on

mine it's a lot more complicated and I like things simple."

"Meaning?"

"I end violent confrontations, either for money or because people who have nothing to do with it could get hurt."

"That does sound much simpler."

"It's a nice way of explaining it. Anyway, so if you're in charge here, I should probably apologize about making a mess in the cafeteria or whatever."

"No mess, it's been dealt with already."

"I don't understand your magic stuff either."

"Magic?"

Julie frowned. "Right, the Dust thing."

"No? How about Aura? What's your Semblance?"

She made a face. "I've heard of Aura, but it sounds like weird crazy stuff where I'm from, so it's probably different. I don't know what you're talking about."

"But you hunt monsters?"

"I'm really efficient."

Ozpin nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe you could stand to learn a little while you're here, then."

"I wouldn't mind a few explanations, but I'm really waiting for my friends back home to figure out what happened."

"Well, what happened?"

"A portal opened up and I fell in. Landed in Yang's lunch or whatever." She shrugged. "I don't know why weird stuff like that happens to me, it just does. Nobody's tried to kill me today, so it's a win."

"I would say so." He was quiet for a moment. "And I saw why you'd attract unwanted attention."

Julie froze. "You saw?"

"Your—hmm...mutations, you called it? They aren't very friendly looking."

"If you saw, and you know your stuff, you know I'm not trying to cause any trouble. I could, I've done it. I'm good at it, but I like things quiet." Julie hadn't had a major slip-up like that in a long time, and this time could cost her.

Ozpin chuckled, then took a sip of his coffee. "Rest assured, if we believed you to be hostile, there are plenty of fully-trained Hunters and Huntresses on campus and they would have been sent to make your acquaintance. I suspect they will eventually, but hopefully on much better terms."

Julie pressed her lips together to rethink what she'd meant to blurt out for a moment. "Thanks."

"Given your unique talents and abilities, though, I would appreciate it if you tried to keep things quiet."

She winked. "I'm pretty sure I can do that."

Ozpin glanced at the others as he motioned for Julie to follow him. "If you weren't able to go home anytime soon, what would you do while you were here?"

"I'm not sure. Probably the same thing I do there, except your world's version."

"So you'd want to be a huntress? Or a mercenary?"

"They're not the same?"

"No."

She shrugged. "If being a huntress pays alright, I'm fine with that. May as well learn something while I'm here, maybe some new tricks."

"Tricks?"

"Techniques, styles, whatever."

He frowned. "How long were you doing what you've been doing until now?"

"Eight, maybe nine years?" Julie frowned as she added it up. "I mean, part of that doesn't count or it'd be some silly number."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-five."

He shook his head and sighed. "That's a long time in this sort of work."

"That's forever where I'm from. I'm just kind of perfect for the stuff I take on, usually."

"Usually?"

She shrugged. "I don't always get to choose my assignments. A couple didn't go so well, and my friends basically made it work out."

"Your team?"

"It's a 6-man team, including me. Not your squads of four. Not on purpose, but it works."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Well, what would you say about staying on at Beacon for a little while? At least until your friends..." He shrugged.

"Until they figure out what happened?" Julie snorted and shook her head. "The only explanation I can come up with is that either Lara or Andy decided it'd be funny to dump me someplace crazy when I didn't expect it. Either they'll show up after the pizza's gone, or this wasn't how it was supposed to go down." She made a face. "Or I'm stuck here."

"How would you deal with that?"

Julie sighed. "I've spent a large part of my life with people trying to kill me, for one reason or another. It's quiet here, pretty peaceful, and I'm pretty sure it'd be alright. On the other hand, I had just found that where I was."

Ozpin nodded thoughtfully. "Understandable. Well, since I took the liberty of watching you spar with Weiss, I had a few other questions. Then, we can fill out the paperwork and you can belong _here_, at least until your friends find a way to get you home, or you do."

"Thanks."

"Don't make me regret this decision."

She smiled. "I'll take it like a job. Nobody _ever_ regrets hiring me, they only regret when someone _else_ does."

"Very well."

Blake shook her head as the "alien" was led away by Ozpin. "She's so busted."

"Maybe she'll be sticking around," Yang suggested.

"She's _also_ a blade," Ruby whispered excitedly. "So awesome!"

Weiss just rolled her eyes. "I don't understand what her problem is."

"What problem?" Yang asked.

"She's obviously got some skills, and she's..." Weiss frowned. "Probably unstoppable, even where she's from. Why's she do that?"

"Do what?"

"Walk in like she owns the place and does whatever she wants."

Ruby snorted. "Wouldn't you?"

"She can't use her wings here, at least not yet."

"Probably not where people can see," Blake corrected. "For now, we can just call her a bat Faunus, but eventually somebody's going to figure it out."

"An alien bat Faunus?"

Blake shrugged. "I'm sure there's weirder running around Vale right now."

"Or Atlas."

Yang chuckled. "One of these days, I'll let you all have a rematch."

Weiss made a face. "You just activated _my_ trap card." She made a face and took her leave of them.

"Was she really that mad about that?" Yang muttered.

"No, I think it was a joke." Ruby shrugged. "Hard to tell with her, sometimes."

"She wasn't smiling."

"Whatever. Let's see what happens to our new friend, and if she's staying at Beacon."

"We're already friends with her?" Yang asked in disbelief.

Ruby looked annoyed for a moment. "Who else would she make friends with this fast?"

But when they finally decided to start following Ozpin and Julie, the other two were gone. There were no signs, and it was almost time for another class. It was a long walk to that end of campus, and the class was uneventful, aside from more of Jaune's antics in class, quietly. He'd stopped pursuing Weiss in favor of Pyrrha, but he still talked to Weiss quite a bit more than the heiress seemed to care for. Ruby had forgotten to mention to her that that was Jaune's way.

Professor Port droned on about some encounter with a Giant Nevermore until Ruby nearly fell asleep, though Yang was probably already asleep. Blake was doing her best to illustrate the scene quietly while the professor got to the point. It took him until there was a polite knock at the door to realize most of his class had tuned him out.

"Excuse me, there seems to be a disruption." He opened the door a crack to see what was going on, but was greeted with Ozpin's quiet words and grin. The unmistakable smell of hot coffee wafted in through the door. Ruby tried not to make it obvious that she was watching, though she couldn't hear them. The conversation was brief, but Port seemed to take it in stride.

The surprise, at least for the rest of the class outside of team RWBY, was when Port escorted Julie into the room. "Apparently, we have an unexpected transfer student."

Julie managed an obviously fake smile at the rest of the class, though she caught sight of Ruby and Yang immediately. Blake and Weiss were a little harder to spot.

"Ozpin has just admitted her, apparently she's not even from Remnant." Port frowned for a moment, humming to himself. "This is Julie Claymore, probably the rumored alien."

"Guilty." Julie pushed herself up for a moment on the balls of her feet for a moment nervously. Being the center of attention wasn't something she was very fond of, even in friendly circumstances.

"From where?"

"Earth. Washington state, United States of America."

"Ozpin said you've had a great deal of experience in the field, doing similar work?"

"Yes, sir."

"Care to share?"

Julie frowned as she tried to remember some that weren't classified. "Lots of jobs. I don't have a running total anymore. Lost it in Winnipeg."

Port was quiet for a moment, seemingly confused. "Of what?"

"Confirmed targets. Eliminated. I can't even remember which ones are classified or not, it all kind of blends together. That's just what I've done alone."

"How would they need confirmation? Don't the creatures of Grimm where you're from just fade away?"

"We don't have the same kinds of monsters. Aside from a couple, like the Worm, they're as human as you or me, it's what's on the inside that counts."

"So how would they confirm that the deed is done?"

Julie smiled, but pulled out her phone. "Pictures, or sometimes a bag."

"A bag?"

"Enough of the target to identify them easily. Only a couple Clans do that, and I can't work for one of them."

"Why not?"

"They tried to cut my head off."

Port frowned. "Why?"

"Long story."

"Apparently. While I'm sure my class was _enjoying_ the current story, Ozpin also asked that I see that you're actually up to Beacon's standards. Since I'm the one who keeps live Grimm on campus, he figured it appropriate for me to test you with one."

Julie frowned. "I haven't seen your Grimm, but it's on. Let's do this." She pulled both claymores from her belt.

"Those look terribly unwieldy for a woman of your size."

"These are just my training swords."

"I hope they're sharp." Port stepped slowly to a larger of the cages he kept in the classroom, though they really led to Port's underground Grimm zoo. He didn't really pick the monster for the unlucky student of the day to face, he just opened a door that was the right size. It worked. Port kicked the handle open, smiling. "Show us how you do it."

The Beowolf that emerged from the cage immediately focused on Julie, probably out of fear of Port, and charged almost immediately. Julie dropped low and to the side, since it was a lot taller than her, and took a swing for the back of its knee. The flesh cut easily with that much pressure against such a sharp edge, and Julie followed with a pommel strike to the base of its skull.

"That's not a werewolf."

"No, that's a Beowolf." Port chuckled. "Not quite what you expected?"

Julie snorted. "Is the mask armored? It's like a Bone Eater with no brains." She checked its wildly swinging claws for a moment, frowning. "Scratch that, no gun."

"They have _guns_ on your world? Beowolves with _guns?"_

"No. They're Bone Eaters. You know one by any of three features, because they're really still human. Either they're absolutely huge normally _anyway_, they _like_ carrying around their big guns, or if you piss 'em off. They get all fuzzy, like this guy, and they try and teach you something. Lucky me, they're friends of mine."

"So you couldn't take one of those, but this is fine?"

She snorted, then jabbed the Beowolf in the base of the skull again. "You said to show you how I do things? You know why it's still alive? Because I don't understand these Grimm yet." She raised one of her claymores. "_This_ is how I deal with a target." The blade came down, through the disabled Beowolf's neck. "I was just looking for the sweet-spot."

Julie frowned as the monster she'd killed began fading away into a black mist. That also faded. It didn't even smell like smoke.

"Very inefficient."

"What?"

Port pointed. "Are swords the only weapon you're comfortable with?"

"I've spent some time with a gun. They're not my way."

He frowned. "So you'll never have any range, then."

Julie grinned, then slid a throwing knife from her pocket. "I have all the range I need, I never run out of bullets, and it's quieter."

He nodded to himself. "Very well. Ozpin said you were very different."

"I was standing right there."

He chuckled. "Very well."

A snarl came from the still-open caged door to Port's Grimm zoo, and an Ursa jumped out of it. Julie only drew one of her swords as she turned, in a smooth, fluid motion. The Ursa was already charging her as the entire class gasped and held its breath. With both hands on the hilt of the claymore, Julie had a great deal more leverage and power behind the swing, and the monster didn't know what hit it. She shoved the blade up through its armpit and through out the top of its opposite shoulder in the same fluid motion she'd drawn her sword in. She followed through with the motion of her blade after the strike until she had her back facing the bear-monster and she wiped the blade off on her pant leg before sliding it back into her belt. She didn't have any scabbards for them, but it looked perfectly natural for her.

"Door's still open."

Port was silent for a moment, then closed the caged door. "So it is."

"Still think I'm a joke?"

He snorted. "I never thought that."

"Testing me, whatever."

"You have an attitude, Miss Claymore."

"I'm just having a bad day."

He nodded to himself at that. "Well, I regret to have aided in that."

She shrugged. "I'm here, better adapt. You're being helpful. What else is in that monster-closet of yours? I can do this all day."

Port shook his head. "You can take your seat, class is almost over anyway."

Julie winked at Blake and headed to sit next to her, since Yang and Ruby were directly next to her, discussing how badly they'd guessed the outcome.

"You have no subtlety," Blake muttered.

Port went back to rambling about something else while Julie kept grinning smugly.

"I don't need subtlety anymore. Every gig takes a certain amount of acting, and here, I'm acting like I know what I'm doing, because everything else is an unknown."

"What if that act gets someone hurt?"

Julie sighed. "I'm a fast learner."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I just suck at customer service."

"That's a major part of our job, you know." Blake's grin made Julie stop smiling. "We're not just hunting monsters for money, here."

"If it pays, I'm fine with it."

"Not as much as it could and more than some people like."

"Perfect."

Blake snorted. "That's the vaguest answer I could've given."

Julie shrugged. "Doesn't matter, I have most of what I want back home. I just gotta earn enough for the overhead here, if I'm here that long. Until then, I'm your new roomy."

"Our what?"

"Roommate?"

Blake frowned as she took in that information, but Yang and Ruby were ready to take up the thread of conversation from there, especially Ruby.

"You can have my bunk!"

Yang looked like she wasn't sure what to say to either her sister or the other woman and shook her head.

"I don't need it. I was kidding, anyway. Ozpin said they'd have something for me in a day or two, I just gotta borrow some space until then."

"So it'll be like a slumber party!"

"Here we go again," Yang muttered.

Julie frowned and shook her head. "Probably different than what you're thinking. I'm not going to impose while they renovate the alien suite."

Blake snorted softly, but managed to look a little irritated. "So you're going to let them keep calling you an alien?"

"I _am_ from another world." She shrugged. "That's what it means, even if I'm not very alien."

"Except the...differences."

"I'm sure you've got some kind of plausible cover story cooked up for that."

Blake nodded, but still looked skeptical. "You couldn't come up with your own?"

"I don't know the places or the people."

"And you thought I'd do that for you?"

The redhead merely shrugged. "I think we can come up with a fair trade."

"I'll think about it."

The bell rang just then, and it was time for the next class. Since it'd been such short notice, Julie had been given RWBY's exact class schedule, and she'd been asked politely to do her best in each of the first-year classes. The teacher for the next class, when they finally got there, gave her a disapproving look immediately. Julie smiled and stopped to talk to the tall blond and wondered if the woman's expression of annoyance was normal.

"I'm your new student."

"It's awful late in the year for a new student, but I was wondering if you'd show up. Ozpin and I already had a small discussion."

"This is the combat applications class, right?"

"Yes. I'm Professor Goodwitch."

"I _love_ the name, by the way. So is this all theory, or practice?"

"Some theory, mostly practice. We were doing free choice sparring for the next couple of weeks, though I'm not sure if you're really up for it. Ozpin mentioned that you have no idea what Aura is, which concerns me."

"If it's what and how I think it is, that's fine."

"He also wanted me to remind you about causing problems. He seemed concerned for the safety of your being in this class."

"I'll be fine, promise."

"The other students."

Julie shrugged. "I'll play nice."

"You had better."

"The boss-man says to do a thing how he wants, I do it that way."

"You seem awfully confident."

She snorted. "Fake it until you make it."

"So it's all bravado?"

"Nope, I'm just out of my element a little."

"Very well. You can choose your seat, the bell should ring any minute now."

By the time Julie sat down in a quiet corner by herself, the bell finally rang. Yang and Blake were talking quietly about something while Ruby was having a discussion with another pair of students about their weapons. One was a girl with a big hammer strapped to her back, while the other was a young man who hadn't spoken yet. The girl was as enthusiastic about her weapon and fighting as Ruby seemed to be.

"Class, today we'll be continuing our applications against random opponents, and we're towards the end of the list." Glynda consulted her tablet for a moment with a bored expression. "Cardin Winchester, are you ready today?"

The big guy stood up and hefted his massive mace over his shoulder. "Yeah, I am."

"You may choose your opponent. Please try to pick from one you haven't fought before, instead of Mister Arc."

The mentioned blond boy muttered quietly while a redhead at his side said something comforting.

Cardin, on the other hand, took his time scanning the other seats until his eyes lit up in recognition. "Can I choose the alien?"

"She's not an alien." Glynda shook her head irritably. "No matter how she entered our school, she is just another student, like any of you."

"Whatever. Let's see if she falls in Yang's fries again."

Glynda rolled her eyes as Julie managed to look properly nervous for a moment. "Miss Claymore?"

"Yes?"

"Could you spar with Cardin?"

She thought about it for a moment, then stood. "I guess I could. Are there rules?"

"Don't repeat the Ursa incident from Port's class," someone shouted.

Glynda looked annoyed, probably since she didn't know what happened, or about the outburst. Julie filed it away as probably both. The rest of the class fell silent. "Yes. You fight until the opponent is unable to continue, hopefully without injury."

Julie stepped forward. "I'll give it a shot."

Cardin snorted with contempt. "Doesn't look like a big deal. She does hang out with the noob team, anyway."

Julie raised an eyebrow, but kept her expression mostly neutral as she headed for the ring in the center of the classroom.

"You may begin when you've loaded your weapons," Glynda said quietly.

Cardin's was already loaded, but Julie took her time to draw one of her claymores. She frowned as she inspected the imperfections of the hilt for a moment, then shrugged. She could trim it later, and when she got a chance, she'd get some wood to give both swords a proper hilt. Maybe there was a woodshop class?

"Are you ready, Miss Claymore?" Glynda asked.

"Oh, right." Julie shook her head. "Of course."

"Being easily distracted on the battlefield or in front of Grimm can easily lead to your death."

"Noted."

"You may begin."

Cardin rushed Julie with his mace in an overhead swing straight downward. Julie sidestepped and slapped him across the shoulder with the flat of her blade, then danced back out of the arc of his next swing. Without resorting to using her armor in this situation, he technically had the advantage, as far as his size and his chosen weapon. He took another swing before he slid the mace's handle down to help dispel some of the extra momentum for a faster return swing as Julie continued to dodge out of the way or smack him harmlessly with the flat of her blade.

"You're supposed to use the sharp end, stupid."

She smiled pleasantly. "You're supposed to actually _hit._"

He fired a round from the end of his mace, aimed for her face, but she had already heard the click and ducked out of the way as he fired. He roared and charged her again, swinging wildly. Julie ducked low and punched him in the gut, hard, then spun to the side and clipped one of his ankles with her sword. Cardin went down, hard, but he seemed mostly alright.

Julie frowned as he picked himself up slowly and waited impatiently. "Why would you want to fight the new girl?"

"You're something weird, I know it."

"Right idea, wrong galaxy."

"What?"

"Nevermind."

"So you really are an alien, huh? I bet you bleed green."

"No, but I've met some who have."

"What?"

Julie punched him in the chest, hard, then slammed the hilt of her sword into his forehead. He didn't get back up in any condition to fight, and seemed like he might have a concussion. He'd only been unconscious for a couple of seconds.

"Congratulations, Miss Claymore," Glynda said quietly. "You've ended Mister Winchester's winning streak."

Julie frowned, but slid her sword back through her belt. It'd probably take her a bit to make a new baldric like the one she had back home, but then, she didn't really need that when she was armored. "Thanks."

Julie went back to her seat quietly and watched carefully as the other matches went on in their own spectacular fashion. One of the others from Team Cardinal decided to take on Jaune, and his weapon caught Julie's attention immediately. It was a plain sword, with a shield that folded. Probably one of the most mundane weapon designs she'd seen, and it was a beautiful sword. She decided she had to get a better look at it later, when she had a chance. Ozpin had given her one of Remnant's versions of a cell phone, which was called a scroll, and it worked similarly, but most of the things Julie wanted were still stored on her own phone. So she had both in her pocket, and when the scroll beeped in her pocket, she pulled out her old phone. That wasn't the one with the text message on it.

When Julie finally got her scroll out and read the message, she heard the fight below actually kicking off. She heard Jaune try and talk his way out of the situation, nervously and awkwardly, and then the fight had started. But Ozpin's message to her was long, and she couldn't focus properly on both. It was labeled "important" and she figured she owed him that much, if nothing else. Still, it was all about figuring out her arrangements, since they could be temporary or permanent, and they did want to study her a little. History class, it seemed, would have to wait until tomorrow, or whenever. Julie had to check the phone to see what day of the week it was here, since it wasn't her world. Maybe they took Thursdays off?

By the time Julie was done reading Ozpin's message, Jaune had defeated the kid with the pushed-over Mohawk and was apologizing while he helped him up. She shook her head with disappointment. The one fight she'd thought would be interesting, and she'd missed it reading that message. Still, she decided to at least introduce herself to the blond guy, and probably his team. She wasn't entirely sure about it, but she hadn't asked her new friends anything on the subject yet. The rest of the class was probably more educational for Julie than the other students, given the differences in fighting styles. Julie had _never_ seen a weapon that was also a gun before in her life, outside of a couple of videogames she'd never really gotten into. Now, they were common here. She watched every bout intently while the rest of the class seemed less interested.

When the bell rang, Julie caught up with RWBY to let them know she'd catch up with them later. They seemed a little skeptical when she mentioned she wouldn't be making it to the next class, but didn't explain why.

"Leaving already?" Blake asked.

"No." Julie shrugged. "More new to Remnant stuff, probably. I promise, it's not going to be a big deal, unless they whip out the petri dishes."

"The what?"

She shook her head. "Never mind. Running joke with a friend of mine."

"Right. Good luck, then, and we'll see you later."

Ozpin had spent quite a bit of time discussing the differences between the way Julie was used to things being done and the way they happened on Remnant, and had grown quiet when Julie mentioned that she'd need some sort of cover story if she wanted to stick around Beacon, actually participate as a student, and not be at a disadvantage because she couldn't bring half of her natural gifts into the equation.

"Blake and Yang were saying something about how I'd be considered a Faunus here, of some kind. The wings, y'know." Julie shrugged. "From what I've seen so far and understand, Aura is like your natural energy pool, except it's more effective here than where I'm from unless you do magic."

"Magic?"

She shook her head. "It's weird, I don't understand it. Basically, making stuff happen in a way science can't explain but without using an ability."

"You say that like there are _other_ sorts of abilities where you're from. Care to name a few?"

"My boyfriend can control heat. Like Weiss does with her Dust and glyphs to make ice, but he can also use fire. He has pretty great control over it, too. A couple of my friends can move things with their mind, and one of 'em can read minds. That's not with magic, because it works different."

"Yet all of your gifts are physical? Aura seems to work similarly to your magic, yet you have no concept or sense of it?"

"Exactly. What's Semblance, anyway?"

Ozpin shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment. This was already shaping up to be a busy day, beyond his normal busy days. "It's different for every person, but it's the advanced way their Aura manifests."

"So I have seen a Semblance."

"Several, if memory serves."

"So, since my racial differences could be considered like your Faunus here, and my armor could be considered my Semblance, then the amount of energy I bring to the table in a fight, and all of my extra steel, would be my Aura, basically."

"From our earlier conversation, I didn't realize you were more than another brawler. I had thought you would be more trouble."

She smiled weakly. "I'm trying really hard. But yeah, what's the deal with the Faunus?"

He sighed. "Some people don't accept them. I'm sure your world has racism."

"It's worse where I'm from."

"Exactly."

"Since I'm a hybrid, the Nightwing tried to kill me when they found out about my armor."

"Nightwing?"

"They're the others like me." She shrugged. "Since the more common base mutations carry genetically, it's basically like my extended family, or a geographically isolated group of people after a few centuries."

"Fascinating."

She shrugged. "Yeah, except the part about the racism. I hate that."

"Bad experiences?"

"My own 'extended family' tried to cut my head off."

He frowned. "I'm sorry."

"It's in the past."

"Right, well... You do need some sort of cover story to explain yourself in simpler terms to the rest of Remnant, when asked. Also, I agree that you're at a disadvantage being unable to use the majority of your abilities."

"Not that it's mattered so far."

He grinned. "I saw. I have had another discussion with Port and he is fascinated."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "You know how often people talk about me behind my back?"

"I haven't seen enough or talked with you enough to form an opinion yet, so I haven't said anything implying one."

She chuckled. "The bad rumors lead to work or quiet. The good rumors are the bad ones."

"Good?"

She brushed her nails across her shoulder, grinning smugly. "I am kind of a big deal. At least here, I don't have as big a target painted on my forehead."

"Just ketchup, earlier."

She stopped grinning. "I'm still mad about that. Right, what kind of Faunus has big gargoyle wings?"

"Bat Faunus, presumably."

"Close enough." She shrugged. "With the context that I'm not from Remnant, it makes a lot more sense to the locals."

Ozpin snorted softly, grinning. "This whole planet happens to be filled with what you call 'locals'."

"Was that offensive?"

"Not really."

"I'm sorry, I'm really blunt."

"I had noticed. Hopefully, you're honest. Anyway, Port wanted to prepare a test for you after hours, maybe tomorrow if it's ready."

"A test?"

"After our discussion, after your incident in his classroom, he seemed to want to see what _you_ were capable of."

"Whatever he's got, I'll give it a shot. Any day I'm not getting better, I'm going soft. That's how people die."

"In this line of work as well as your former, I agree." He frowned, then took a sip of his coffee. "I have already talked with the rest of your teachers. Provided you don't create too much of a distraction or have too many issues that require interference, they are happy to have you."

"That's great. When do I get a room and some uniforms?"

Ozpin frowned. "The room is being prepared and should be ready tomorrow, and the uniforms have already been acquired. I had thought to give you some time off to acclimate yourself to Vale, but things seem a little...complicated. I have enough problems with my current students wandering around these days, I shudder to think of what may happen if you were involved."

"Like what?"

"Nothing to worry about."

She raised an eyebrow. "I heard that once. Then I got shot in the back."

"Shot?"

She shook her head. "I get shot a lot."

"That's unfortunate, but common for Hunters and Huntresses."

Julie shrugged. "Right, so the uniform thing. Since we're saying I'm a Faunus so I can _use_ my wings and my armor's my Semblance, I'll have to alter my uniform a bit."

"How so?"

"Wing holes."

"I trust that shouldn't be too inappropriate."

"Just trying to follow the rules. I haven't had a chance to read through 'em."

He shook his head. "It's not a very strict policy anyway."

"I noticed, but if I don't try, I'll mess up all the rules."

After an extensive physical with Beacon's actual doctor and several interested nurses, another few hours of paperwork and a brief personal tour of the campus, Julie was let go at the end of classes for the day, after missing the only other class she wanted to go to. She liked history, and didn't know any of Remnant's yet. She doubted she'd learn enough to satisfy her curiosity, but she'd do what she could to get caught up. Ozpin had mentioned her history teacher probably wouldn't let her get off easy while she caught up.

Julie elected to check out her locker before finding her temporary space in the dorms. The locker room was quiet, and Ozpin had mentioned something about the lockers being capable of being moved somehow, but she doubted she'd need to worry about that. After all, they were designed for weapons storage, and she generally made her weapons on the fly. Still, with her cover story out of the way and a fresh set of clothes, Julie meant to at least change. It was a locker room, after all.

When Julie got there, she was surprised to find that it was a co-ed locker room, but ignored the others in there in favor of finding her own locker. She tried the combination and it worked, then dialed the test number on her scroll to verify it would do what it was supposed to. Even if she never planned to use it, she still knew they served some sort of practical purpose outside her limited idea of them. She set her fresh uniform down on the bench before she sat down. Her workout clothes still smelled like evergreen trees, dirt, grass, and sweat, but not strong enough for anyone to notice. She'd pick up something new when Ozpin had her temporary finances worked out, since she now worked a bit for Beacon, in Port's secret zoo. She still wasn't very sure what she was supposed to be doing about that, but it didn't really matter. Grimm had trouble munching on solid steel.

Julie changed forms, covering herself in her trademark armor, and picked up the uniform's undershirt. It was a sturdy material, but she doubted it was actually cotton. There wasn't any information on the tag. She took her time cutting the slits for her wings near the shoulders of the shirt, then repeated the process for the jacket. She smiled at the little skirt and resigned herself to living out this twisted little joke. _I really am stuck in a monster-hunter anime, complete with cheesy high school teen drama._

Julie made a simple knife from her armor before she returned to her human form and began changing into the uniform. There were only a couple other students even in the locker room, and besides, she wasn't getting completely undressed. Unexpectedly, the uniform fit perfectly, and the wing holes actually lined up. Julie hadn't really expected that amount of good luck after landing in Remnant face-first, but it was a nice change.

Julie put both of her claymores in her locker, then made a mental note to make a pair specifically for the class she'd sparred in that had flattened edges. She debated filling the locker with more blades, just for laughs, but changed her mind when she heard the tone of conversation a few rows behind her.

"Pyrrha, I'm just saying." It sounded like the blond, awkward boy.

"Jaune, it can take years to master a weapon, or learn your Semblance. There's no reason to be discouraged _now_, when you haven't really spent that much time on it." It was the redhead from his team.

"But you _saw_ that! She took down Cardin with just one! How could I compare, even if we both use simple swords?"

Julie sighed, shaking her head, and stood up. It didn't take her very long to get closer, but the other redhead looked like she was torn between being sad for the boy and frustrated. Her patience was limited, Julie saw.

"Every weapon, no matter how simple or complex, has advantages and disadvantages. I don't know if you noticed, but Cardin's not on the same playing field as the new girl."

Julie smiled, and the boy picked that moment to look up. "That new girl?"

The redhead spun around. "Hello, can I help you?"

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but it sounded like someone was having a worse day than I had. Then, it sounded like I was being talked about."

"Sorry," she said automatically.

Julie shook her head, smiling. "No, no, I didn't mean to be like that. Anyway, I'm Julie Claymore, the new girl."

"Are you really an alien?" the blond asked in wonder. He shook himself as he realized his rudeness and stood, holding out his hand. "I'm Jaune Arc, pleased to meet you."

She shook his hand firmly before the redhead introduced herself.

"Pyrrha Nikos."

Pyrrha's handshake was as firm as Julie's.

"Great to meet you." Julie turned her attention from the redhead's beautiful green eyes back to the boy. "So, you don't think a simple sword's the way to go?"

He shook his head uncertainly. "It works for you, but I'm just not as good. If you don't mind me asking, how are you so good? You don't even carry a shield!"

Julie made a face. "I usually use a pair of swords, actually."

"Isn't that worse?"

"Not with my—uh, what's it called? Semblance?" She shook her head. "We have different terminology for things where I'm from, so I have to try not to be confusing. Right. Your shield, and your armor, are to keep you alive. I'm sure this Hoplite here's been showing you how to use a shield." He grimaced, and she smiled. "Right. The sword's a whole different thing. If you ditch the shield, you can hit harder, but you have less defense. My Semblance basically makes it so I don't need a shield, and helps me use all of it to my advantage."

"Since you don't seem to worry about hiding it, what is your Semblance, exactly?" Pyrrha asked delicately.

Julie shrugged. "First of all, you guys have different terms than where I'm from. Where I'm from, it's a mutation, and I'm a hybrid random and Nightwing. I guess here, that'd mean I'm a Faunus with a really strong Semblance."

"So you aren't human?"

Julie grunted. "The facts are, we're all the same basic parts. I don't see a difference, and you don't sound like you do either."

Pyrrha smiled. "Sometimes, it's really cute."

Julie smiled, then shook her head. "Anyway, my Semblance is why I kept the name Blades for so long." She changed back to her armored form, then spread her wings and stretched her claws. "I don't need a shield, and I can make more weapons any time I want." She shrugged. "I'm also pretty handy at fixing 'em, depending on the blend of steel. Mine's a little different, so sometimes I can't exactly clean it up like new. Anyway, yeah. I get hit a lot, it hurts. Sometimes, I think a shield would be great."

"Really?" Jaune blurted. He glanced back down at her claws. "You don't look like you even need a weapon like that..."

"Not really, no. But a blade gives me reach, and I'm not very useful past a certain distance. That's our trade-off, buddy." She smiled a little more. "We're buddies now, right?"

"'A stranger is just a friend I haven't met,' my mom always says."

She frowned a little. "Alright, so your mom seems cool."

"Yeah?"

Pyrrha rolled her eyes, but said nothing. Julie made a mental note to drop a mention of James at the first appropriate opportunity, to clear up any potential misunderstandings.

"Yeah. Makes me miss home."

"But you just got here today."

She shrugged. "I didn't mean where I lived before I landed here, I mean where I grew up."

"Why weren't you still there?"

"Long story. Ends badly."

"Right, so you'd know how to get better at swordplay?"

Julie tapped Pyrrha's shoulder, grinning. "All the practice this lady can dish out."

"So you're not offering to help?"

"I could, but I'm a lousy teacher. I'm up for sparring any time you are, and I'll even bring practice blades."

"You don't have to go out of your way if you don't want to."

Julie shook her head, grinning. "Do you know how much I train?" His blank stare told her all she needed to know. "I've been training hours every day, for the past eight years. Know why? You get sloppy or out of practice, you die. At least, doing what I was doing, where I've been. I'm not sure how our—uh schedules, I guess, work out, but I'm totally up for it." She nodded to Pyrrha. "You too, if you want someone you can go all-out on."

Pyrrha frowned thoughtfully at her. "Is that really steel?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Just wondering. I suppose it would be beneficial to both of us if we were to train with you, time permitting."

"Great, because my old sparring partner's not here."

"What was she like?"

Julie frowned for a moment, then aimed a thumb at Jaune. "He _was_ kind of like this guy for a bit, but not as out-of-place. Really fun. I spar with most of my friends, unless they don't do that kind of thing."

Jaune grunted. "So you don't have normal friends?"

She snorted. "There's no such thing as normal." She retracted the armor, but retained her wings and claws. The skin underneath the armor was leathery and thick. "It's all just a misconception. The more you learn, the weirder it seems to think of something that way it is."

"So you don't think I should try and _build_ a new weapon? Even based on my sword?"

Julie snorted. "No way! I can't be the only one here respecting the classics."

He frowned. "But your swords are so much bigger."

"Those? Those were for a _completely different_ little thing, I didn't know they had _classes_ for fighting here."

"It _is_ the best combat school in Remnant," Pyrrha said.

"Still, that's not how we do things where I'm from." She changed back to her human form completely and shook their hands again. "Anyway, I should get going. I have to go see about my arrangements for the night."

"Oh?"

"No big deal, just a little bit of figuring out. Since I don't have _my_ team here, and Ozpin isn't sure what to do with me so I don't have a team, I'm bunking with RWBY tonight and I get my own digs tomorrow."

"Oh, we're right across the hall. We could show you the way," Jaune offered.

"Sure, better than being lost." Julie shrugged. "I mean, unless you two want to see how long it takes me to even find the right hallway. Hell, I could race you. That might be funny."

"What? Why?"

Pyrrha managed a grin. "Why would you want to try to race us to someplace you don't know where to go?"

"I can figure it out on the way and cheat."

"How would you cheat?"

"By flying. Now that everything makes sense, Ozpin said I could have my wings out any time I want. Even my armor."

"That might not go over so well," she muttered.

Julie winked. "Bullies? Sorry, I think I've already given _one_ of them something to think about."

"Or a concussion," Jaune pointed out.

Julie nodded. "Probably. Let's hope there's no permanent damage, I'm _real_ bad at that." She smiled. "The good news is, he's on a really short list of people that've tried to hurt me that're still around."

"How short?"

Julie thought about it for a moment. "Excluding my former Clan, only about ten people."

Pyrrha led the way while Jaune and Julie talked about swords. Somewhere along the way, Julie wound up making a pair of flat-edged practice swords just to demonstrate, and by the time they were in the right hallway in the dorms they were nearly fencing. Pyrrha did her best to ignore it and Jaune's growing fascination with the strange new friend, but Julie caught the occasional momentary glare out of the corner of her eyes. The ringing of steel on steel through the hallways eventually attracted attention, but it was the rest of Jaune and Pyrrha's team that met them in the hall before they'd gotten to their destination. There was a shorter girl with a big hammer, and a quiet young man with black hair and a long green jacket.

That hallway smelled like fresh pancakes.

"Who's this bitch?" the girl demanded. She fidgeted a little with her hammer in anticipation of a possible fight.

Julie sheathed her new pair of swords even as Jaune finally broke down laughing. It hadn't been a serious sparring session anyway, and it'd felt a little immature. She turned to face the two strangers and noted the hammer. She knew the young man had a pair of weapons up his sleeves, but she wasn't sure what they were exactly, except that they were guns. She smelled a great deal of Dust and gun parts.

"I'm the queen of the castle, who're you?" Julie asked, grinning.

"You're what? Seriously?" The girl turned to her quiet friend in irritable confusion. "Did she really just do that?"

"I don't think she's trying to start something. It must've been a bad joke."

The girl glared at Julie again. "You trying to be funny?"

"Always. Name's Julie and I'm new here."

"Not a great way to introduce yourself." The girl snorted. "I'm Nora, and _I'm_ queen of the castle."

"I didn't say which, now did I?"

Nora frowned for a bit more. "Well, you're in _my_ castle, now. I don't want to have to break your legs."

Julie chuckled. "Then don't. I'm just here to do this until my friends figure out how I got here and take me back, or I'll do the Hunter thing instead."

"You look like a show-off."

"You look like you're not always on the offensive without it being a real fight."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're not the type to tell someone off or anything, you just do it. Am I right?"

"She's got you there, Nora." Nora's sidekick stepped forward and shook Julie's hand. "I'm Lie Ren."

"Pleased to meet you. Hopefully, we can all be friends."

He turned to Nora, though his face didn't show much expression. "See? That's all she's after."

Nora put her hammer over her shoulder and pouted. "One of these days, I'll get to break somebody's legs."

Julie chuckled. "I'm sure you'll get a chance."

"You offering?"

"No. I need my legs."

"You sure?"

"Positive." Julie shook her head. "But if I'm ever in a situation where that's a good solution, you're the first person I'll call."

"Why? After that fight with Cardin, I'd think you could do it."

"I could, but you're probably better at it." Julie shrugged. "Anyway, I should probably see what the girls have going on, since I haven't been able to talk to 'em since Port's class much."

"Yeah, and Ren just made pancakes!"

Jaune rolled his eyes and Pyrrha groaned, but they said their goodbyes and Julie ran her scroll over the lock on the door. It worked. Julie was greeted by Yang nodding absently to her music, Blake and Weiss reading, and Ruby polishing her scythe. Judging by the rest of the room, this was a normal thing for them.

"Hey, sorry we couldn't talk earlier."

Weiss waved her off absently and went back to studying, but Blake put her bookmark into the book she'd been reading and sat up. It definitely wasn't for a class, though Julie only caught a bit of the title before Blake had slid the book onto the shelf, face down.

"Ozpin?"

"Yeah. Everything should make a little more sense tomorrow. Plus, I'll actually get to go to history."

"History?"

Julie shrugged. "Seemed like an interesting class. If I don't know the history of the place I'm at, I could be really offensive for no reason on accident."

"Is that the only reason?"

"No, sometimes history's really neat. If they think it's important to teach history at a combat school, I'm not going to argue."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Are you a major academic?"

"Not really. Some things I like, some things I'm horrible at."

"Like what?"

"Math." Julie made a face and sat down at the edge of Blake's bed next to her. "You have no idea how happy I was when I found out I didn't have any math classes. That would've been the worst part of today, not being stranded, not seeing my boyfriend again for a while, but having a _math class._"

Blake laughed a little. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. I'm horrible at it."

"You have Dust tech?"

"Basic Dust 101, actually."

Blake chuckled. "Try to keep up, then. It's a math class in disguise."

Julie swore.

Ruby poked her head out from her top bunk finally, having finished polishing her scythe. She folded it as she stared down at Julie quietly for a moment. "So, do you get to use your...um..."

"My armor? My blades?"

"Yeah. Do you?"

"Whenever I want. Ozpin and I straightened some terminology out and compared notes. If I consider my Aura to be the energy I use normally for everything, that part makes sense. If I consider my Semblance my armor, and just my armor, it's fine. The wings, I guess make me count as Faunus."

"Figured, but bat Faunus don't have retractable wings," Blake said. She shrugged. "That's the little hole in that plan."

"I'm just a different kind, is all." Julie smiled. "Everything is handled, I get something worked out after class tomorrow so I can buy the junk I need to stick around a bit, Ozpin and Port get to study a whole different kind of thing. We all win."

"So you're not going to be part of my team?" Ruby asked sadly.

Julie shrugged. "I've spent most of my career solo, but I work alright with others." She pointed to the scythe. "That's not just a scythe, is it?"

Blake rolled her eyes, but was smiling, as Ruby jumped off her bunk, dragging the weapon with her.

"Oh, no! It's not! This is my baby, Crescent Rose. I built this myself, forged it and rifled the barrel and everything. It's also a high-caliber sniper rifle." Ruby folded it out into its rifle form and held it out proudly. "It's really accurate, but I have the scope zeroed out to about 100 meters at the moment, because I'm usually really close to what I'm aiming at anyway."

Julie nodded as she examined the weapon. Without knowing better, it looked to her like an extended barrel 50-cal, but it wasn't the same sort of weapon. Hell, it turned into a damned scythe, and it was taller than Ruby when it was fully extended. The rifle form was a little big on her too, and Ruby wasn't all that short. "I used to have a sniper rifle."

"And? What happened?"

"I uh..." She sighed. "Long story, but I lost it when I left New York."

"Just lost it?"

"No, it's still where I left it, I just can't go back and get it."

"But you're—you! Why couldn't you go back and get it?"

Julie managed a slight grin. "It's in a secret, secure facility in a locker. There's so many armed guards, and I'm not out to piss them off _again_."

"What happened last time?"

"I was myself."

Ruby frowned. "How's that work?"

"We have a bit more racist issues where I'm from than you have here on Remnant."

"It can't be that bad," Blake objected.

Julie raised an eyebrow. "The Clans think I'm a random, the randoms think I belong in a Clan. I was, but I'm a hybrid random werecreature. It's not something either of them can accept, and my former Clan tried to kill me when they found out about the other mutation."

"That's horrible," Blake muttered. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's fine. That's how I got started."

"But you're better now, aren't you?" Ruby asked. "That had to've been a long time ago, right? You might not run away from them now, would you?"

Julie snorted. "Now, there'd be no fight. They'd try and take me out, and I'd kick their asses."

"But you wouldn't kill any of them?"

"No." She shrugged. "Even if they don't think of me like that, I still like to think they could still be friends."

"I thought you said you were a hitman," Blake objected.

"Only hostiles, dangerous randoms, or people I never met. If I'm friends with that person, they're basically never going to be on my list, unless they decide to not be friends back. I don't got time for that kind of back-stabbing."

"Makes sense. Here, we don't have so many problems like that." Ruby folded her scythe and tucked it away in her belt. "Well, except a bit of the Faunus thing."

Julie grinned. "I heard. I'm half tempted to be...well, me about it."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"I could walk around with my wings out, then the first person who says something gets a face full of bad day."

"What?"

Julie raised a clenched fist, grinning. "Intimidation works two ways. Those that use it as their only option are easy to intimidate with the threat of force."

"Meaning?"

"I can break them in half before they could scream for help."

"That might not go over well."


	2. Chapter 2

**(Still learning how to use this site in this capacity. Also, this isn't my only project, so updates will probably be sporadic. Sorry.)**

**Chap 2**

A week had gone by, and there were still no signs of help from home. Julie had adapted, and was starting to understand some of the curriculum, but there were large gaps between where her expertise adapted and where she had no idea. Her understanding of Aura, for example, meant that most people could actually block most bullets, or prevent them from causing much damage. That diminished her natural advantage, but her concept of how it applied to herself proved accurate, once Goodwitch showed her how to work her scroll for it, in combat. It wasn't easy to keep track of while using both swords, and the majority of the students hadn't seen her armor, but she'd already adapted. Julie barely needed the steel skin here, but she liked being able to spread her wings.

Classes had been filled with papers and projects, nearly from the moment she'd gotten to them, and none of the professors considered her exempt. Cardin and his team seemed to have stopped their rumored bullying, for the most part, but only because Julie made it a point to hang around the cafeteria with as many Faunus as she could. That seemed to deter them, for a while, at least. Still, after a weekend off, they'd forgotten.

Julie had gotten partially teamed up with RWBY, but was considered independent for most classes that didn't specifically require a team. For things that took pairs, she usually wound up alone or with the teacher, on their one field trip. Apparently, there were a lot of field trips, though they hadn't gone far yet. The Emerald Forest was beautiful, anyway. Never mind the local wildlife. It'd been an interesting morning, though, and lunch had started with _something_ tasty shoved into a burger, though Julie couldn't remember the animal's name. It was new to her, and she wasn't focused on it at the time. RWBY and JNPR were up to their usual comical conversations while Nora and Yang took turns throwing small bits of food into each other's mouths from across the table. They'd had a lot of practice, Julie realized.

Then, as she was finishing her burger and debating whether or not she felt like eating fries, a tater-tot struck her in the left wing. She ignored it, but another hit her in the right. She turned, but it wasn't obvious where it'd come from, and she was sure there were more people who shared Cardin's view of treating others. She ignored it and shoved a couple of fries into the little pool of ketchup on her tray, wondering how such a large school could afford to maintain such a large variety of food at all times. It was even pretty good.

Then, Julie caught Blake's attention drawn behind her and a dark glare. Blake hadn't opened up to her very much, but Julie had already reached a basic understanding of her nature. If she hadn't been part cat, Julie might have taken longer to put it all together, and if she hadn't known, it'd have made more sense when she found out about Blake being a cat Faunus. Blake was even eating sushi, and had taken quite a while to actually eat it, even though she wasn't the most conversational of the bunch. Julie quietly watched Blake watching someone else out of the corner of her eye, until she heard what Blake was paying attention to.

All of team Cardinal began laughing madly, and a small squeaking voice whimpered in

discomfort. "Stop! That hurts!"

It was the rabbit Faunus, Velvet. Julie had a few classes with her, though she had other classes, since she was a second-year. They shared the same lunch, though she'd never actually spoken to her, at least that she could remember. Cute as hell, and sweet, supposedly. After the second whimper of pain, during which Blake looked to be about to do something about it herself, Julie had had enough. She stood and turned, glaring.

Of course, it was Cardin that was bothering her, and he was pulling her ears. When she did manage to slip out of his grip, he slapped her rear while one of his buddies moved up behind her. He repeated Cardin's ear-pulling, and Velvet looked like she was trying to escape.

"Please stop, that really hurts," Velvet whined. The accent, Julie knew, but it seemed out of place.

The abuse, Julie couldn't stand. Blake didn't get enough time to come up with a reason to stop her, either. She stepped over, glaring, but managed to not start a fight. "What's the problem here?"

"No problem, we were just having a little conversation with our little bunny friend," Cardin said, his confident tone making his nasal voice even more grating than normal.

"Velvet?"

Velvet's eyes told Julie all she needed to know, though the girl seemed afraid to speak.

Julie frowned and managed to hide her anger under a mask of boredom. It was practically habitual. "Let her go, leave her alone. Very simple."

"Or what?"

"I'll come up with something _new_."

Cardin seemed confused. "What kind of threat is that?"

"No threat. I just don't like hearing others being bullied."

He laughed in surprise. "Bullied? Is that—you think we're _bullying_ her?"

Julie raised an eyebrow. "It's even a little cliched, actually. Leave her alone, alright? I don't feel like having to come up with a good cover story this week."

"A what?"

"An explanation to questions I don't want to answer. Remember, I said I'll come up with something new, but I might go with a classic."

"See? They all stick up for each other," Cardin told his friends. "It's sick, really. These _Faunus_ all know they're not welcome. They even do it on other planets, apparently."

Velvet managed to slip away, and left crying. Julie ignored it in favor of holding Cardin's attention. "I don't stick up for people based on race." She snorted. "I do what I think is right, unless the pay is really great."

"You saying you want a bribe for threatening me?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. You can't afford my fees. Get your head out of your ass."

"Or what?"

"I..." She shrugged dismissively. "I haven't come up with anything. I'm not very spontaneous."

"Right, whatever." He turned back to what was left of his lunch, a few remaining tater-tots.

Julie returned to her seat and got comfortable, ignoring the silence that'd surrounded the incident. Ruby was the first to start babbling quietly afterward, but Julie was busy ignoring it. They'd gotten marginally used to her quiet times. Blake interrupted that after a bit, since the conversation had changed from what she'd just done soon after.

"I don't think he's going to take that so well," she muttered.

Julie shrugged. "He can take it however he wants, long as he stops being a prick."

"He's not _just_ a stupid bully, he is actually dangerous. We all are, but he's big."

"Noted."

"He might actually do something, like try and get you expelled or something."

Julie smiled for a moment, then finished chewing her fries. "I'm interesting, and they want me around. He's got nothing on me, yet, except that he knows I'm faster than him. I'm pretty sure, if he and I got serious, he'd have a bad time."

"Be that as it may, you should probably be more careful about which fights you pick."

"I don't pick fights. That's as nice as I'm getting with that piece of shit." She snorted softly. "Normally, I break their jaw when they keep talking. I'm trying to play nice, but that really got on my nerves."

"Because she's a Faunus like us?" Blake whispered.

Julie shook her head. "Nope, thought she was cute. But because she's not the kind that can deal with people like that. Like, I don't think she mentally _can_, or it's just not in her nature. Whatever. If he does anything about what just happened, even if I'm not ready, he won't get away with it."

Blake nodded, frowning. "But what if he _does_ take you by surprise?"

"He better finish the job fast. He's a coward, so he'll hesitate."

"Will you?"

Julie shrugged. "I never hesitate, I just change my mind."

Their study-session had gone on later than planned, since Julie still had very little understanding of how to use Dust beyond an explosive, and Weiss had been very helpful and informative on the subject. Blake was also helpful, but Julie had a little trouble remembering the applicable combinations. She knew which combinations were used in ammunition commonly, as well as Yang's special blend, but beyond what went into bullets, Julie couldn't keep them straight. Fire and Water made what? She'd already written the same combinations down several times, trying to memorize them out of repetition.

"You're a living, walking weapon, and you can't understand _other_ weapons?" Weiss finally blurted.

"Gee, thanks." Julie rolled her eyes. "I just don't get how one thing mixed with another makes it into what it is. I'll probably just memorize them all. Hell, I don't see why they're worried about us using more than just the ammo mixes."

Ruby sat up, then lifted one of Crescent Rose's magazines. She slid one of the massive bullets from it and held it out. "What's in this one, then? Based on class, and what you've seen?"

Julie frowned. "It's not standard?" Ruby shook her head and Julie decided to cheat. She could identify the Dust types based on smell, though Weiss' extra Dust did make it somewhat hard to isolate. She took a deep whiff, knowing this wasn't how the class expected them to understand the different types of Dust. "Fifty percent standard ammo blend, then something else, and a bit more burn crystal than normal. Like, about a quarter."

"What's the extra?"

Julie frowned. "Strawberry?"

Silence answered her for a moment, then Ruby laughed. "That's what you get for cheating."

"It's been in a strawberry, or jam or something. You knew I'd try and smell it."

Ruby's laughter was contagious. "You learn by application, it's obvious. If it's not a big deal for you, you're less likely to file the information away. But, since this is _my_ baby, you make it your business to know, right?"

"That's the only _gun_ on campus I'd expect to be able to punch through my armor."

"Even though you could block it with Aura?"

"Still working on that, but I'm getting better."

"What would you do if we actually fought?"

Julie shrugged. "Get close and take your weapon. Against my steel, the only advantage you have is at range. My advantage is up close. It could end pretty fast, either way."

"And I'm pretty fast."

She nodded, frowning. "So we'd probably manage a stalemate, or I'd have a big hole somewhere." She shrugged. "At least until I have the Aura thing down better."

"Which is why it's important. What about when _you_ need better range?"

Julie snorted, then armored herself. "Lots and lots of metal."

"But it's low velocity."

"I'll manage."

"And you _do_ have limits. Since you're _kind of_ on our team, I know."

"Since we're on a team, that's great. If we had to fight, I still think it'd wind up in a stalemate. If you were to try and take me out and I didn't know about it, you'd win." Julie shrugged. "To grow stronger, you have to know your weaknesses. I'm already thinking about doing something on the range angle eventually anyway."

Ruby squeaked and put away the magazine after replacing the loose round. "I _love_ how you handle range! It's all like..." She made a bunch of sound effects and Julie was forced to smile as the girl pantomimed some of Julie's more common tactics, moving steadily closer. "We have good mixed range. You just fight close, like Yang. It makes sense."

Julie made a face. "Yang's rounds are only a quarter of what regular rounds take, then three parts burning and heat mix. She keeps the higher velocity mix in her slugs, but half the time it's buckshot."

Ruby threw her arms around Julie's waist in a hug. Obviously the girl was about to go into another rant about weapons, and her excitement was contagious. Ruby's arms locked around Julie's waist, and she felt very awkward all of the sudden. "See? You're getting it, you just don't know _why_ things work the way they work. You'll have it by tomorrow anyway."

Blake and Yang took turns quizzing Julie on combinations until she passed 50 percent accuracy, then they called it a night. Julie's room was just down the hall, anyway, and they were all pretty tired. Still, when Julie tried to get up, she found Ruby's arms stuck to her waist still. The girl was asleep, and held onto her firmly. Julie made a face, then looked to Yang.

The blond held up her hands and shook her head. "She does that sometimes. You can _try_ to wake her up, but I don't think it'll work."

Julie frowned, then poked Ruby in the cheek gently. "Ruby?"

The girl's grip tightened further, but there was no response.

"I want to go to bed, and you're kind of attached."

Ruby's response was silence.

Julie took a deep breath and shook her head. "Whatever. I'm going to bed, if she's still attached when I get there, at least she won't have to worry about monsters."

"Oh, she hasn't had nightmares about monsters in forever," Yang said happily.

"Probably not the same here," Julie muttered. Ruby was extremely light, but it was a little awkward for Julie to get to her own room with the girl firmly attached to her waist. When she got there, Ruby still wouldn't let go, so she lay down with the girl still hanging onto her like it was the end of the world. At least it was comfortable.

Ruby woke up slowly, mostly thanks to a strange sound. Then, though it was warm and comfortable, she realized she wasn't even in her bed. Or her dorm room. Ruby's consciousness was slow in coming, until she realized that she could barely move. The sound stopped for a moment, and everything around her felt like it was moving. Her restraints turned out to be a pair of strong, slender arms that were wrapped around her, but she only realized when they pulled her closer. It was either extremely late at night, or early in the morning, but the warmth and soft surroundings helped her relax again.

It took her a few quiet minutes to realize Ruby was somehow in Julie's bed, and the older woman was holding her much like a large stuffed animal, or at least that was how she interpreted it. Ruby frowned for a moment when the sound returned and listened, then realized it was Julie grinding her teeth. It stopped, and the woman muttered something unintelligible. The grinding stopped when her grip on Ruby's midsection increased, and Ruby was afraid for a moment that she'd be split in half. She'd gotten to know how strong Julie was, even in her human form. But Julie somehow stopped once Ruby was smashed up against her, in a position she found comfortable. The bed was so much larger than Ruby's bunk, partially thanks to the fact that the woman was so much taller and had gotten special consideration, instead of the standard issue beds and shelves every team got after their initiation. Julie had mentioned her own "special" initiation, just to prove to the professors that she wasn't joking around.

Ruby almost fell back to sleep until a horrible sound came from Julie's nightstand. It was her phone, from home, blaring rhythmic static. It didn't last long, though, since the woman turned it off automatically in her sleep. Ruby couldn't see what time it was from her position, and couldn't crane her neck around enough to see a clock, if Julie kept one. She'd mentioned how she kept track of time as a habit, but the room was completely black in the darkness. Something told Ruby it was darker in here than her own dorm room, with its stitched curtain and all.

The second time Julie's phone went off, Julie groaned and swore, then actually rolled over to turn it off. Apparently, it took a little more than the press of a button. Ruby managed to wiggle around a little until she was more comfortable, but now Julie was awake. Her free arm came back around Ruby's waist, and Julie grunted quietly.

"How's it feel to have a person stuck on you?"

Ruby frowned. "Sorry, that happens sometimes."

Julie chuckled softly. "I hope you don't mind, but I didn't want to sleep on the floor or pry you off. You didn't wake up, and Yang just kept laughing about it."

"Sorry."

"It's fine, I'm a cuddler."

Ruby blushed a little. "Your boyfriend wouldn't mind?"

Julie snorted softly. "He'd be laughing. Stuffed animals, anything fuzzy, or people I fall asleep next to that don't move in time, they're pretty much trapped. If I trust you enough to actually sleep around you, you're hosed."

"What was that horrible noise on your phone?"

"Just rhythmic noise. Like, actually on purpose."

"Guess it'd help wake up."

Julie squeezed her closer for a minute, burying her face in Ruby's short hair. "It's like 6. I'm getting up."

Ruby smiled, but stopped when the warmth left her back as Julie actually got up. She was practically weightless to Julie, and the woman knew how to handle that. She also turned on the lights, without stumbling in the dark, and sat back down on the bed. There weren't any classes for several hours, and Ruby usually elected to sleep in a little. When Ruby's eyes adjusted, she blushed again when she actually caught sight of Julie. She'd slept in only her undergarments, and Ruby was a little jealous for a moment. Julie didn't notice, as she picked through her discarded uniform from the previous day. She picked out a fresh uniform, then a change of what she'd put together as regular clothes, though she'd spent most of the time actually wearing the uniform. They'd only left Beacon a couple of times so far, and one of those occasions was to help Julie pick up something to wear when she wasn't actually on campus.

Julie frowned and checked her scroll as something occurred to her, then shook her head and grabbed her other outfit. Plain black cargo pants and a black tanktop, and those massive boots she liked. "It's Saturday, isn't it?"

"Yup. No classes, no plans, nothing to worry about today except homework."

Julie snorted. "I'm also awake 3 hours earlier than class."

"Why?"

The tall redhead flexed, though she was grinning. "Weight room's always open." At Ruby's blush, she glanced down at herself and made a face. "What? We got the same hardware."

"It's not that, it's just..."

Julie raised an eyebrow. "Awkward?" At Ruby's nod, she tousled Ruby's hair. "It's only awkward if you let it be. Awkward is that uncertainty that you're doing something others find strange, and actually care. Two ways to fix that, don't care or _own it_."

"Which is your solution?"

"Both." Julie put on her pants and didn't bother to keep her back to Ruby. "Besides, we did technically cuddle all night."

Ruby blushed again. "I'm never gonna hear the end of it."

"Remember, don't care or own it. Nothing happened, no harm no foul. You fell asleep hangin' out with me, and it was comfortable."

"That's not what people're gonna say." Ruby sighed. "Plus, it _is_ kind of weird."

"Fuck what they say. Plus, it's still really early. I was going to work out for a couple hours, but if the front gates are open today, I think I'll take a walk."

"Where?"

Julie shrugged, then pulled on her tanktop. It didn't really remove the image from Ruby's mind of what it barely covered. "No idea. The scroll's got a map, so I probably won't get lost, but...I like to wander around sometimes and think. Plus, it's really early. I'll probably get bored in a couple hours."

"Or hungry." Ruby giggled as Julie nodded thoughtfully. It was always funny when Julie sat down and ate what she considered a real meal. She could keep eating where others would have been sick, she just usually restrained herself from that. Something about maintaining the illusion of her being normal, then periodically erasing it.

Julie managed a bit of a glare, though Ruby wasn't convinced. "You sayin' I got an eating disorder?"

"Maybe."

Julie stepped closer to the smaller redhead, still glaring, and managed a growl. Ruby met that false glare with her usual grin, which actually did ruin Julie's fun a bit. She wound up just hugging Ruby again. "You wanna know the _one_ thing you do that pisses me off?"

"What?"

"You're too damn cute."

Ruby frowned in Julie's grip. "You say that like I'm a puppy."

"Nope. They tremble in fear of your awesome cuteness."

Julie squeezed tighter, chuckling. "This'll be the only day I haven't hit the weights all week."

"I can tell."

She let go suddenly and got back up, grinning. She shoved her scroll and old phone into her pocket. "I should at least escort you back to your room, anyway."

Ruby took Julie's hand when it was offered and stood, then put on her boots. How Julie had gotten those off her feet was beyond her, but it wasn't a big deal. Julie's were already on when they got to the door somehow, but Ruby decided it'd had something to do with how often the woman had needed to be ready on extremely short notice.

When they finally got to RWBY's dorm room, the sounds of the few people who woke up at that hour were beginning to grow, though they mostly heard snores from JNPR and RWBY's room. Ruby managed to make it back inside without anyone noticing, and Julie bid her farewell as she began her own day. Ruby tried to get comfortable in her own bed and rest for a while, but there were so many ideas buzzing around in her head. This was probably the first time Julie had mentioned that she liked to take quiet walks and wander around, and she'd implied it'd be all day.

It'd been a long day, and Julie knew her brief exploration of Vale hadn't covered very much. She'd had a light lunch, but the prospects of a free dinner of unlimited proportions had made her come back long before dark. The gates of Beacon were usually open all weekend, unless there was some sort of state of alert in Vale. It didn't take her all that long to walk back from where she'd wandered, since she'd mostly scanned through the Dust shops and stores that carried weapons and other various supplies. She was beginning to get a real feel for the way things worked in Remnant, as far as her new profession went.

She was a couple blocks from Beacon's front gates when she heard another pair of boots behind her, matching her pace. It was a man, and fairly large, from what she heard. Nobody had bothered her about her wings in Vale, though she'd gotten a couple nasty looks. That didn't matter, though. There were also plenty of Faunus wandering around, she'd seen, but they seemed to stay to themselves. The boots behind her followed for another block.

At the crosswalk, Julie changed her pace and her follower matched it quickly. He seemed to be concentrating awfully hard, and she silently cursed herself for not keeping at least a knife on her person while she'd wandered around. Without her armor, or a weapon, she looked pretty harmless, except for the wings. She hadn't seen any bat Faunus yet, and she doubted her wings were the same. That was the problem with her cover story.

After she'd covered half of that last block, she heard the man behind her speed up, and the clink of metal on metal. A leather strap creaked and there was another jingle, probably a loose scabbard of some sort. Julie managed to move just in time for the massive mace to miss her face, though it collided with her shoulder. The awful crunch reached her ears just as she hit the sidewalk on her other side, and the pain took a moment to register even as it took her mind a moment to place the face of her attacker. He was big, and wore loose-fitting plate. He stood over her for a moment and raised his mace again, meaning to finish the job.

Julie armored herself and threw herself off the sidewalk with her good arm, then grabbed his throat, ignoring his near-miss with the mace again. She lifted him upward by his throat, her bladed claws stretching. "Cardin."

"Filthy alien Faunus bitch."

She threw him at the sidewalk, hard, but his Aura protected him from the brunt of the impact. He still left a mild imprint. "I warned you. I fucking warned you." The adrenaline was already pumping, and Julie barely felt the pain in her ruined shoulder.

He snorted, covering his fear with bravado. "You did what? Sorry, I don't speak _monster_."

"Monster?" she shrieked. "Monster? You want a fucking monster? _I'll show you a fucking monster!"_

Without the use of her left arm to hold him down, she shoved him back to the sidewalk with one of her boots as she hastily made a blade from the armor of her right arm, then smacked him across the face with the flat side hard. The force of her swing, when it collided with Cardin's remaining Aura, managed to bend the thin blade. She reversed her swing and caught the other side of his face. He'd have a big pair of bruises, but that wasn't what Julie was after. He was still conscious, as planned. She tore off the chestplate of his armor and threw it aside, then tore open his shirt. She tossed her sword away and stabbed into his chest with one of her claws. She carved her alias onto his chest, in his skin. The wounds were shallow, but they bled and hurt a great deal. Then, when she'd finished that, she left a long set of lines from all of her claws up his neck and shoulder.

Cardin, to his credit, remained conscious, though she had to punch him to stop him from screaming. She heard the crunch when her fist collided with his jaw, but finished her hasty artwork. He looked on in horror and agony as she skillfully toyed with each nerve her claw passed, and was reduced to a pitiful whimper by the end of it. Julie stood again and pressed her boot into his chest.

"You're the monster. If I _were_ a monster, I'd have attacked you instead. If I weren't _trying to be fucking nice_, I would have cut your head off for following me. Instead, you get a reminder."

She paused, catching her breath. The pain in her shoulder was starting to come back, after the adrenaline rush had started to wear off. "Every time you look in the mirror, every time you see yourself, you'll see it. You'll remember, that one time you pushed a girl too far. You'll remember what hating something you don't understand costs."

"You bith!" he managed, mostly sobbing.

"Next time, Cardin, I don't give a shit what anybody says. _Next time_ you try to fucking kill me, you better get the job done on the _first_ try. You're too fucking loud to sneak up on me, and you're too stupid to pull off anything smarter."

She pressed her boot down onto his chest until she heard something crack, then marched off before the sudden lack of adrenaline made the pain unbearable. It'd be counterproductive to break down crying in pain right in front of him, after all. She made it a little further before she heard that distinct click as Cardin's weapon was chambered a round. It was a big ball of _something_ burning. Julie had her aura up and ready by the time it hit, but it only really spared her from a great deal of extra injury. It still carried enough force to knock her to the ground again, and by now there were shouts coming from down the street.

_So much for keeping things quiet,_ Julie thought sadly.

The infirmary wasn't all that private, or large, but that's where Julie came to. Beacon's doctor was examining her shoulder carefully, which had been what woke her up, but she wasn't completely numb from the painkillers. She wasn't completely conscious on them, either. She groaned when the doctor prodded it again. Hopefully, she'd been out when they'd managed the X-ray.

"Sorry, the anesthetic probably isn't going to work as well for you, is it?"

"Hurts like a bitch." Julie grunted when he touched the shoulder again. "How bad's it broken?"

He made a face. "It'll probably heal up in a couple months, but your career as a Huntress might be over."

Julie frowned. "What? Look, I've been to some pretty shitty hospitals, come in pretty beat up in some bad parts of _my_ world, but I've always bounced back. Maybe not so fast, but damn."

"Well, all of the cartilage is torn, all of the bones in the area are pretty much shattered."

She groaned. "So I'll be in a sling for a bit. Did you set anything?" She looked over the damage herself, but it was stitched back together. It even looked like a good job, though the incisions were still fresh. Obviously, they'd meant for her to be unconscious a little longer. "I mean, did you put enough of it back where it goes? Leave me some bolts and stuff in there or something?"

"Yes, in a year or two, you should regain full mobility of your shoulder. There will be some pain for a while, and a lot of rehabilitation, but you'll never regain your full strength in that arm."

Julie frowned. "It's all attached, we're good. Get me a sling and I'll be fine in two weeks."

"What?"

"I'm not trying to say you don't know what you're talking about, but what're you basing your opinion on?"

"Human physiology, since you said you're technically human."

"Technically. Don't Faunus heal faster?"

"Yes."

She grinned. "I heal faster than that."

"But your shoulder was completely destroyed. We mostly just fished out the loose pieces and tried to reconstruct it as best we could."

"There's bone in it, right? You didn't use a _lot_ of weird metal, did you?"

"Just surgical steel," he said, shaking his head. "I don't..."

She smiled, ignoring the pain. "You basically just stuck a load of what my body produces naturally, except a little different blend, straight into where I was going to do it myself if I wasn't being taken care of. It'll heal up, I'll absorb the metal, and it'll be fine in a couple months. Useful in a couple weeks, a month at the most."

The doctor shook his head, but the door to the room opened. Julie ignored the fact that she was in a hospital gown completely in favor of returning Ozpin's glare with her own neutral mask.

"We had an agreement that you'd do your best to not cause problems. The Winchester family are very prominent members of the community, and avid supporters of Beacon Academy."

"He tried to kill me." Julie grunted, instead of shrugging. That would probably be a bad idea now, and she felt the doctor resume his work, ignoring the argument. "If we hadn't had that agreement, my shoulder would be _fine._ Instead, this guy's saying I might not heal up all the way, ever."

"But you will, won't you? That was in those _files_ you brought with you, conveniently on your phone."

Julie grinned a little. "Every alien should always bring the manual about their species with them, wherever they go. I'm just glad I had my phone on me at the time, it's normally in the house."

Ozpin sighed, his show of anger dissolving. "The Winchesters haven't been informed of the incident, and we've already stitched Cardin back together. Only a few broken ribs, and some nasty bruising. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he picked a fight with a giant Nevermore."

Julie snorted. "I already told him. He tries again, he better not miss. I better not hear him coming."

"Or what?"

"I'll cut his head off."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Even while you're seriously injured?"

Julie raised her chin. "I'm breathing. I'm capable."

"Then you'll be attending classes on Monday?"

"All of them." She made a face. "Besides, I'm ambidextrous."

"Is that another racial perk?"

"No, just the healing. Mine's a little jacked up, compared to the rest of 'em, but it works out to be almost the same or better."

"Because of your Semblance."

"Sure. Excess skin production, but yeah."

Ozpin sighed. "Please, reconsider removing Cardin's head."

"He's still breathing. Hell of a lot more success than a _lot_ of better attempts."

Professor Port's after-hours study of the resilience of Grimm was put on hold until Julie's shoulder healed, since he hadn't been making much interesting progress until she showed up anyway. He mentioned it before his class, and Julie had agreed, because the painkillers the doctor had prescribed had a great deal of potency, as well as mildly amusing side effects. Still, she made it through the class paying attention alright. Her notes were a little more illustrated than normal, though she'd only illustrated the majority of his story for the day. It was only a couple of panels of comic.

Goodwitch's class, on the other hand, annoyed her somewhat. The tall blond eyed her shoulder dressing and the sling dubiously for a moment. "It seems as if your assailant couldn't bear to make it to classes today, yet here _you_ are."

Julie smiled sweetly, though she knew the pain meds probably made her look stupid. She felt stupid at the moment. "He might be a little scared to show his face."

"I heard. I also heard both the opinion of your doctor and Ozpin's own opinion. I understand, if this had happened on your world, you might not be given the luxury of healing properly?"

"You mean before someone tried to kill me?" It took some effort to focus on the woman's face at the moment.

"Yes."

Julie thought about it for a moment. "Depending on the area and how long I'd been there, I could have anywhere from a week to five minutes between the time my shoulder was smashed to the time someone was ready to do the job. I had backup where I was last, so it'd probably be easier."

"But it's happened before?" At Julie's nod, Goodwitch hummed in thought. "How effective would you be against an opponent right now?"

Julie blinked owlishly. "Roughly a quarter. Lack of sleep and pain pills, everything still smells like antiseptic. Good enough for werewolf country hits."

"You'd still take a job in your present state?"

"If I needed the money, sure. I'm bullet-proof. Werewolves like guns."

Goodwitch frowned for a moment in thought. "Well, I cannot in good conscious consider you fit for duty."

"At least I showed up." Julie frowned. "I thought part of the grade in this class was for participation. I'm here, if challenged, I'll participate."

"How? One-handed, barely standing, with only your Semblance to even things out?"

Julie snorted softly. "I'm not really sure yet, but I'd make it work."

"Don't worry about it. Nobody expects you to kill yourself for a class."

Julie frowned. "I guess that's fine. I'll probably only be out for a little bit. Besides, I was actually learning."

Goodwitch nodded to the bleachers, a clear dismissal before class began. Julie took her seat and did her best to pay attention during the fights. The painkillers made her a little sleepy, but she managed. History was a fun experience, with Oobleck zipping around the classroom like normal and explaining things in overdrive and Julie's brain at only half speed. It took a lot of concentration, and she was tired by the end of the day. It was going to be a long week.


End file.
